Ashes to ashes, Dust to dust
by Machina Super Monstrum
Summary: 45 years post show, Yang and some of the remnants of Team RWBY and JNPR tell the story of the Great Grimm War to the students of Beacon so that it and its sacrifices may never be forgotten.
1. In the beginning

***A/N: My next story begins here, it will have a mixture of flashbacks and current events which I will break with a single line to show start and double line to show end. I have many more chapters planned and I hope it will be to everyone's liking.***

The students of Beacon Academy have been gathered together in the auditorium for special presentation, all other classes having been called for this particular event. The students file in and taking the prepared seats in front of the large stage, a single microphone set up in front of a comfortable looking chair.

A hush falls over the gabbing students as the teachers and advisers stand the assembled mass up for the guest that is slowly making her way up the dark side passage to the prepared area. A young professor moves to help her but she shrugs him off, standing straighter for it and walking with more purpose to her step. As she enters the lights beaming down on center stage, her appearance becomes clearer.

A well-aged woman stands before them, hair faded from time, once a brilliant yellow blonde, now a white-gray with only a hint of its previous vibrancy, a worn brown leather coat, showing many a repair, over a faded yellow blouse hung loosely around her thin but still toned frame. Her eyes are closed as she stares at the floor, hands clasped in front of her, a tarnished yellow metal greaves around each wrist.

One could hear a pin drop as she finally looks up, opening her eyes, only one stunningly bright lilac orb looking out as the other is nothing but an empty socket surrounded by scar tissue. The silence is broken by a single sentence, a confidence to it but at the same time an immense tiredness, "My name is Yang Xiao Long and I fought in the Great Grimm War…."

She settles down into the comfortable looking chair and lowers the mic to her seated level. "Everyone sit down and get as comfortable as you can, this is a long story." The students are all seated and staring expectantly at her. "Let me start by saying that what I'm about to tell all of you is horrific, terrifying….and exactly why we Huntresses and Hunters exist. We exist to fight off the Grimm so that everyone else can live their lives happily and secure. We fight knowing the costs we may have to pay, including our own lives." She sighs, long and tired. "I lost so much over the years of that war, my eye." A single gloved hand rises to touch the scar tissue covered socket. "So many friends, a lover, and even my baby sister…" Tears well at the edge of her good eye before she blinks them back with a sad shake of her head, "But it is something that had to be done to protect the kingdoms and what we humans and faunus have made for ourselves." She looks down at the barren wooden stage and says, barely above a whisper but picked up by the microphone, "I just pray that it is something that we never have to do again." A single tear finally looses itself from her eye and drops to the floor with a barely audible blip.

She raises her head back, held high as the strength of her voice return, her one good eye scanning the audience. "It all truly started in our first year at Beacon, my baby sister, Ruby," Her voice cracks a little before she pulls herself back, "She had been able to jump two years for exemplary combat prowess and our team was formed through initiation as anyone else, becoming Team R.W.B.Y with Ruby as the leader, myself, Weiss Schnee, and Blake Belladonna. We had another team we became close to, Team J.N.P.R lead by Jaune Arc," Her voice hitches again and she takes a deep breath before continuing. "Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos, and Lie Ren. They were a good group and our two teams would often intermingle." She looks over to the side of the stage, making a small motion with her hand. "Could one of you get me a glass of water, I'll be talking for quite some time and I know I'll need it."

A quick scrambling off stage and a young looking blonde boy, couldn't be more than 16 stumbles out with a few bottles in hand. Dropping the bottles off, he attempts to backpedal out of the light, but a firm grip on his wrist stops him. "Wait…" He turns and Yang's good eye sparkles as she looks him up and down, "You look just like him…." Her eye brims with barely held tears before she slumps and her grip loosens. She sighs and shoos him away. "Go…."

The aged brawler sags into the worn chair and casts her eye over the audience, "Now then, our first hint of trouble was actually before the year had even started, the exemplary combat my sister had shown was her stopping a robbery at a dust shop. She stopped the robbery but the robber got away, but they weren't normal thugs or criminals. They were wanted criminals for higher crimes, Roman Torchwick and a bitch named Cinder Falls." Her fist clenches at the name before she spits to the side and continues with a stuttered breath. "But even they were just pawns in the greater game….but I get ahead of myself."

"We started our school with a few interesting adventures and misadventures, well tread memories as they were some of the last happy times we had together. We had a good first semester, found out about the White Fang's involvement with Roman and Cinder but we didn't find out exactly what they were planning, learned a few things, despite Oobleck's speed and Port's tendency to ramble." A weary chuckle passes her lips. " If you'll forgive an old lady her ramblings, there is one memory that I hold very dear." She leans back into the comfy leather chair, a smile spreading across her lips.

"It was the beginning of our second semester….." She leans forward and begins motioning with her hands as she speaks.

* * *

I was having a back and forth with Nora in the cafeteria, chunking food all around while Weiss and Blake chatted about something. Suddenly Weiss stood up and a pie veered off course and slammed her right in the face, as Nora pointed the finger at poor Ren, I knew this was gunna be quite a day….

The food fight broke out in earnest as everyone started getting involved, hunking pastries and drinks and even Jaune at one point, then, without warning, the entire cafeteria cleared out in a rush, leaving just us and JNPR atop their hastily constructed tower of tables and vending machines. All the while, Nora is calling out, 'I'm queen of the castle.'

Ruby gave a rousing speech as before we rushed forward, raring for a fight….Watermelons flew everywhere like a hail of mortar fire, but my little sister didn't even flinch as she brought me to the frontline, calling orders. I slid my hands into a few turkeys nearby to make replacements for Ember Celica and went straight at those damned watermelons, slamming them apart with my fists of poultry as Blake came to my side with these two big baguettes. I slung the turkeys at Pyrrha first, trying to take out JNPR's experienced fighter first but she flipped out of the way and I just knocked poor Jaune clear across the room.

Ruby and Wiess started really getting into it after I got knocked out for a bit from baguette spears tossed by Pyrrha, til Weiss got taken out of commission by Nora wielding a watermelon warhammer. She actually hit hard enough to blow Weiss into a pillar and bring it down.

Regaining my senses though, I leaped back into the fray, grabbing a new set of poultry pounders and getting into a melee with Ren and his leeks. Poor boy shoulda known better than to get into it like that with the Blonde Brawler. Took him down with quite the stunning aerial slam into the ground, left a crater and everything.

And finally, I got into it with the one who started it all, Nora, after jumping back from a slam with her melon hammer. It was like something from a movie as we rushed towards each other and I launched that orange haired demon through the room with a swift uppercut…..

* * *

A light, airy giggle echoes through the auditorium before a chipper but worn voice follows it. "That's not quite how I remember it Yang…."

The brawler's eye widens as a greater smile overtakes her face and she looks to the back of the room, where the voice came from, "Nora, you old bitch…" All eyes turn to the short, dull red headed woman and the salt and pepper haired man beside her. "It's good to see you two, get on up here."

The couple makes their way slowly to the stage, slowed due to Nora's right leg dragging limply on the ground. Two new chairs are brought out for them as Yang stands and embraces her old friends. "Come, sit and tell me how 'you' remember the story going then."

Nora's smile widens and even Ren's neutral face is broken by a soft smirk, the two taking the provided seats. "Well, if I recall, what actually happened then was…."

* * *

I brought my melon hammer up in a sweeping arc and slung dear Yang through the ceiling. I didn't even have time to revel in it cuz Blake pulled a long chain of sausages and started whipping it all around at me. So I had to move back and throw cans of soda at her, letting their popping serve as small explosives so that Pyrrha could pull this super cool thing with her Semblance and made ALL the cans come of the ground and into Blake, taking care of her.

Then….then…..your sister stood up and looked super serious and sprinted straight towards up, picking up everything around her in this vicious whirlwind and she started spinning like a crimson corkscrew and threw all four of us against the wall to be pelted by so much food…it was great.  
Glynda came in super pissed and used her wand to clean everything up and was definitely going to give us a scolding about it all…

* * *

Yang smiles, "And then I came down"

Nora nods, "And then you came down and we all had a good laugh about it."

The three of them laugh for a brief moment at the shared memory until Yang retakes the audience's attention. "Those were the truly happy times of our lives. Things didn't start to really go downhill until our second semester of year one, when they started to make more moves, recruiting further for the White Fang, stealing Atlesian war machines, detonating a hole for the Grimm to get in in the middle of town, even infiltrating the school posing as students." Yang speaks clearly as Nora and Ren lean back in their chairs, settling in for the telling of their long tale. "And then year two started where things started going horribly wrong."

***A/N: First chapter, just shy of 2k words, a bit rocky I'm sure but now that I've gotten it rolling, I can run with all the ideas written down in my notes. I hope many of you choose to stay with me through this journey. May the night see you safe and the dawn greet you kindly readers.***


	2. Lessons were learned

***A/N: Chapter two arrives and just in time for christmas, having lots of times to think of ideas at work certainly helps. I thank each and every one of you that so graciously followed and favorite me and this story already. It really means a lot, especially since I'm not writing the sort of genres that always get the attention. So my dear readers, anyone wanna take bets on who lives, who dies, and who gets maimed?**

**TheKishinSoul: Almost? Well, almost means I'm not doing my job right. I hope to pluck your heartstrings just right in the coming chapters.*  
**

"And then year two started and that was where things started going horribly wrong. We had Torchwick in custody and the Grimm had been stopped from tearing apart the city and we knew that couldn't be all there was but we were out of leads, the trail ran cold for a while. So, like any teenagers, we relaxed a little and focused on our schoolwork til summertime rolled around. It was a surprisingly quite summer, filled with its own misadventures once we convinced Blake to loosen up." She glances over at Nora and Ren, sitting quietly in their seats, hands gently clasped together. "Even convinced JNPR to come along on a few of those trips." The small smile on her face drops as her gaze trails back over the audience.

"Year two started as you'd expect, classes, training, sparring, all that you'd expect of second years. Then…then we got sent out on a team mission without a teacher. It was supposed to be a routine 5 day hunt and cull, the sort of mission that you couldn't fuck up and was near the town so we could always run if things got bad, and for about 3 days, it was a cakewalk. We took down hordes of Beowolves, dozens of Boarbatusks and Ursas and even a few King Taijitus. Tiring, but definitely fun, until the 4th day when we came across this…thing….."

* * *

"And so I said, rectum? Damn near killed 'em!" I spread my arms wide and look over the team, waiting for the laughter that was sure to come.

The two more dour members just give me this look while Ruby was the only one to respond verbally, "I don't get it."

I just chuckle and pat my baby sister on the head, "I'm sure you'll get it when you're olde-owwhhhh…."

We had stumbled into a secluded little clearing, in the very center is a swirling black pool, the liquid viscous and streaked with red and shards of white. It looks like…like liquid Grimm.

Ruby tries to move closer to investigate, but lucky her that Weiss came to her senses first and stopped her. "Ruby, for once, wait and investigate from a distance. This…whatever it is, can't be good."

"It looks like someone liquefied a Grimm."

Blake nods and glances around, "And if something is capable of doing that, I don't think it's something we want to be around for if it comes back. I think we should call this mission and report back, let the teachers or a full team take care of it." Weiss and I are quick to nod in agreement but Ruby scrunches her face up a little in thought.

"We should at least get a sample right? With some of this stuff, they can figure out what it is easier right?"

The rest of us look between ourselves and look really dubious until we turn back and Ruby is using her puppy dog eyes. "P-please…I wanna be helpful and seem like a good leader and bringing some new Grimm stuff would definitely do that."

I relent with a sigh, "Fine, but what are you going to carry it in?"

The pool burbles a little as she squeals and pulls out a dull gray thermos. "I'll use this! I already drank all the milk I had in it and I'm sure with this sample, getting another one'll be no problem!" She is bouncing in place as she looks at the pool.

"Alright, just please be careful sis."

"I will Yang, you worry too much." She gives me her normal chipper smile and she turns, straightening her back and getting what she seemed to think was a serious face before approaching the pool.

* * *

"I should never have agreed. We should've just walked away." Yang says as she shakes her head, staring at her hands clasped in her lap.

* * *

Ruby is actually humming happily as she steps closer to the pool. It bubbles harder as she got closer. When she uncaps the thermos, kneeling down to scoop up some of the substance, it goes placid and settled into a flat surface, even its swirling colors halted. The container dips into the still pool with a bit of resistance, like pudding, filling up the thermos rather slowly. When she finally fills it, she stands back up, capping it triumphantly. "I did it! And nothing went wrong this time."

Like a tiny voice went off in my head, my little sister uttering those words drew my attention, allowing me to notice the thin black tendril rising from the goo.

"RUBY!" I ran and shoved her away as the tendril lashed out and wrapped around my arm, now in the place where sister had once been. Ember Celica sizzled as this thing ate through the metal and Dust, rapidly hitting flesh and shooting pain through me as if someone had doused my arm in lit napalm.

The acrid smell of burning flesh filled the air as I screamed in agony, dropping to my knees. It probably would have kept eating throw my arm if Blake hadn't snapped out Gambol Shrouds blade into the tendril, severing it and letting what was on my arm dissipate rather quickly.

* * *

She pauses a moment, "I don't remember much for a while after that as apparently I passed out from the pain. They told me that they had Ruby take me back to Vale since she was the fastest. The doctors worked as best they could to peel the fused metal and acid charred flesh from the wound without doing further damage. Weiss told me I was screaming like a banshee through the whole thing. I woke up 2 days later in that hospital with my gear, the remnants of the broken gauntlet, and a sleeping Ruby at my bedside. She hadn't left the whole time, even threatening a nurse with Crescent Rose when they tried to make her."

The aged blonde sighs, "But as I recount this all to you, I feel the same thoughts I've had for decades, wishing we'd been more careful, or tried harder, or just…done something that might've changed the outcomes. I have so many scars from incidents like that damn pool, physical, mental, and emotional." She raises her left arm, staring at the tarnished and dim yellow metal of Ember Celica. "Though I suppose that what could've happened was worse." Her right hand grips the aged weapon, removing it and revealing a massive burn mark, the scar tissue trailing all the way from her wrist to her forearm in a coiling spiral. "I could've lost my arm fully from Ember's Dust rounds detonating or if I'd been even a moment slower, it would've wrapped around…around Ruby's neck." Her voice cracking slightly as the tears well in her good eye once more.

Nora looks at the verge of tears as well, Ren still his normal stoic self but for a small frown at the edge of his lips. Nora speaks softly, but still loud enough to be heard, "I wish that was all we'd lost..." Her eyes trail to her useless leg, looking no different from her still usable one from outside her long skirt. Ren's hand moves to gently touch his throat as he closes his eyes and nods slowly.

"Me too Nora." She looks at the crowd, addressing them directly this time. "You see children, what we did and what you train for each day is to fight and to kill Grimm, and I know that many of you feel damn near invincible with your Auras and weapons. I know because I was just like that at your ages and even past." She holds up her arm higher, "but scars like these and the many more I hold served to remind me that everything we train for and do has very real risks." She lowers her hand. "I am not trying to convince any of you to quit, but I am trying to show that if you fight as if you are invincible, the Grimm will be happy to prove you wrong."

She goes silent as a deathly quiet fills the room. A silver haired boy in the middle of the crowd stands up, breaking the silence as he stares into Yang's one good eye, "Then what can we do Ms. Yang?"

Yang doesn't break eye contact, "What is your name boy?"

"Bismuth Metallum of Team DMND ma'am."

"Can the ma'am stuff, I may be an old woman but I don't want to be reminded of it." She stands from her seat, her worn joints popping with the effort. "Get up here Bismuth."

He makes the quick jog up to the stage as Ren pulls Yang's chair away as well as his and Nora's, she still seated in said chair.

Yang steps up to the young man, still standing chin to chin with him despite the shrinkage of old age, she removes the other gauntlet of Ember Celica and tosses it to a waiting Ren. The boy stands ramrod stiff and stares her in the eye. "There are a few things you can do that will help keep you and your team alive should things turn dire or just in general." She grabs him by the wrist, spinning in place and hurling him over her shoulder, landing on his back on the ground, forcing the wind from lungs. She leans over him on the ground, "The first is to not rely entirely on your Aura to soak all incoming attacks, train your reaction time down and stay alert no matter the circumstances. The second is to learn to fight without your weapon. You will usually have it, but what if you run out of rounds on a long mission or there is a need for an emergency evac or if you are awoken in the middle of the night by a sudden attack, you may have to fight off at least one Grimm with nothing but your bare hands."

He sucks in air, coughing a little. "D-does that happen often ma-Yang?"

"I have killed 103 Grimm with my bare hands in my 62 years of life and my weapon is fist based. I am not the norm for sure but learning to do it will do nothing but better prepare you." She offers her non scarred hand up to the boy, which he takes gratefully. "The third is to become close to everyone in your team and to other teams you work with often. Your tone and manner makes me thing that you just work with your team, you don't really socialize with them, is that right?"

"Y-yes ma'am. I suppose you could say that."

"Stop that. You want to be tight with your team, to be friends and comrades, feel secure that they've got your back no matter what. Yes, it will make the pain of losing them so much worse should it happen, but a team of friends can often do a helluva lot more than a team of coworkers."

He nods, "Understood Yang."

She sighs and puts on a small smile. "The final thing I can offer to you on a general basis is this...be a teenager while you still are one. Don't rush to be a big, bad Hunter or Huntress, enjoy your youth while you've got it. Make friends, find lust, find love, make mistakes and treasure the people around you. You never know when they might just…disappear."

She pats the boy on the shoulder, "Make sense kid?"

"Unders- Yeah….I think I got it."

"Good. Now get back to your seat, I believe Nora had the next part to tell."

The silver haired boy trots back to his vacant seat and Yang sits in her comfy chair as Nora scooches her towards the microphone, Ren always on her heels.

Her voice holds a fond chipperness to it, "This is what Team JNPR was doing during that part of year two, cuz we weren't slacking either, right Ren?" He nods, a small smile at the edge of his lips.

***A/N: I hope was worth the wait my readers. For those of you concerned with or holding a disdain for OCs and OC teams, have no fear, Bismuth or Team Diamond will not be a recurring thing, and may only be mentioned in passing at a later point at most. Anyway, next week, an update of Big Bowl of NeopoloJaune before ch. 3 here. May the night see you safe and the dawn greet you kindly dear readers.***


	3. Loves were forged

Chapter 3: Loves were forged.

***A/N: Greetings my lovely readers. I bring you a new chapter, this time, from Nora's view. A huge thanks goes to my new beta Maxaro for generously donating his/her time and effort to this project. **

**A warm thanks to each of you as well for waiting for me as you have… 2 jobs, hospitalized wife, and the new year slowed me down, but she's doing much better than before and I should be able to get back to my old schedule.**

**TheKishinSoul: It is a goal, to bring a genuine tear to a reader's eye. I want to craft the world, its people, and their journey in such a way to tug just right at the heart and minds of my readers. I want you all to feel their pain as if they were close friends, but I get ahead of myself, we have only just begun on this pain wracked journey though, this story shall last for quite some time if I can.**

**Onward and downward my readers…* **

"This is what Team JNPR was doing during that part of year two, cuz we weren't slacking either, right Ren?" He nods, a tiny smile just barely touching the corners of his mouth.

"So, it was the beginning of year two and we'd had an awesome summer with everyone. I looked really good in my swimsuit and had quite a few boys staring at me when we were at the beach."

A cough interrupts her a little, Yang smiling widely, "You? Pretty sure most of 'em woulda been staring at me. That was back when I looked my finest." She chuckles a little as she runs a hand over her form.

Nora huffs, "You seem to have forgotten that I kept my puppies wrapped down a bit in the school." She points at her chest, "In a swimsuit, I was bigger than you ole Yangy Mustard."

Yang shakes her head, "We're bringing out those old nicknames now? Whatever, Miss Noranch…."

They both share a giggle as Ren shakes his head, his small smirk growing. After a moment, he taps the bomber on the shoulder and points at the crowd. "Right, right, anyways!" She begins to gesture as she speaks, "Great summer, then year two started. After the weird stuff we'd been through already, we'd really come close as a team and grown individually." She ticks off points on her left hand, her ring finger missing at the second knuckle but a glint of silvery metal still sits on the nub.

"Jaune had gotten much stronger physically, reaching a point where he felt ready to work on his Aura. If I recall, he started meditating and practicing with his Aura, trying for control of his Semblance with Pyrrha." Ren nods to her, making her face light up even brighter and she pumps her fist a little.

"And Pyrrha had definitely made some headway with our romantically dense leader, they still weren't 'together' together yet but it definitely seemed like he was starting to pick up on her feelings."

Her gesturing grows in extravagance as she doesn't even pause for breath, "And Ren and I had all kinds of fun, he made pancakes all the time and we played at the beach a lot and went shopping together, and I was finally able to tell him why I always booped h-'

The aged redhead tries to force herself up as she talks only for her dead leg to give out underneath her, dropping back into the chair. Her widening smile drops into a hurt scowl. Ren is by her side in an instant, making sure she's ok. "I-I'm fine honey, just….forgot about my leg again." His face softens as he arches a brow, concern written across his face. "R-really, I'm alright." She leans back in the chair as Ren nods and kisses her gently on her lips.

With a sigh, the bomber continues on, significantly more subdued than before. "Anyway, I remember the day of our first solo mission as well, it was a patrol mission at one of the closer settlements…."

* * *

I ran up to the roof of the dorm to grab Jaune and Pyrrha so we could get some lunch. When I opened the door, Jaune was on the ground, legs crossed and eyes closed, his hands on his knees. Pyrrha was circling around him, speaking softly. I was curious so I decided to keep quiet and watch, maybe today would be the day Jaune got his Semblance down.

"Breathe Jaune, relax your body and focus your mind. Imagine your soul as an orb resting right below your sternum, bring your hands together over it, with each breathe in, raise the orb, lower it on the exhale." The blonde knight followed her instructions, the sun directly overhead doing little to wash out the white glow that begins to surround him, his eyes remain closed and his face is serene. "Good, continue with this exercise for 20 cycles, remember, block out all distractions, focus on the orb, feel its power." Pyrrha turned to me as I peeked through the cracked door.

"What do you need Nora?" She whispered. "We're making wonderful progress today."

I bounced on the balls of my feet, "Do you think he'll get through to his Semblance today?!" I whisper loudly.

The red-head shakes her head, "No, I don't think so. He's got a better grasp on his Aura though." She looks back over her shoulder at the blonde knight, a smile spreading on her face. "But I know he will eventually."

The glow around Jaune fades away as he finishes his cycles, his bright blue eyes opening, a serene look across his face. "I feel…stronger, more whole I think…."

Pyrrha's smile widens, "That's wonderful Jaune." She sets her hand on his shoulder as he stands up. "You're making very fast progress. In time, you'll master your Aura and unlock your Semblance."

He sighs, his shoulders slumping a little. "Yeah, but I just really want to be able to use it now, ya know? I want to be able to protect the people I care about, like you," His cheeks brighten a bit, "o-or Nora or Ren."

Pyrrha's face reddens slightly too, "O-of course. I understand, but it takes time. You're learning it much faster than most people though." She smiles fondly at him.

He smiles as his blush grows as he pulls her into a hug, "Thank you so much Pyrrha."

Her blush spreads down her cheeks and neck as she shakily wraps her arms around him. "Y-you're quite welcome."

With a reluctance that I found sooooo cute, they pulled away from each other, their faces all flustered. I couldn't help myself and had to 'daaaw' at them.

Jaune whirled on me, his face bright red, "N-nora!? W-what are you doing here!?"

I giggle and push the door fully open, "I was coming up to see if you were ready for lunch! It's paaaaaaancake day!"

Pyrrha chuckles and Jaune arches a brow, "You always say it's pancake day."

"Because it always is! Come on you two! I need my syrupy goodness!"

I grabbed their wrists and dragged them downstairs and out to the cafeteria.

After grabbing our various lunches and my stack of delicious fluffiness, piled at least a dozen high and drizzled in a warm razzleberry/redsap syrup with a nice big scoop of b-

* * *

Yang interrupts before the aged bomber can get off into a remembrance rant, "Nora, I know you love your pancakes but they probably don't want to hear it all." With a wave across the gathered students.

Ren raises his hands, twisting and twirling them as he signs off something to Nora. The bomber smiles a little, "I understand. That's great, I'll ask!"

She turns to the assembled group, "My husband wants to tell the next part but he'd prefer someone other than myself or Yang to tell it 'cuz he doesn't want me to ramble, Yang's voice might be tired or something silly like that. Are any of you capable of translating sign language?"

A few hands go up, but one in particular shoots up, waving all about, just the way to get Nora's attention. She points at that hand, "Get on up here."

Down the empty aisle, a bright faced, blue haired boy trots, vaulting up onto the stage. He holds a high salute as he stands before them, "Russom Unirob at your service Mrs. Valkyrie!"

"Nice to meet you Russom." She says with a matching smile as Ren bows lightly, signing something to him. Yang however has the biggest grin of them all.

"You're a Synthetic aren't you, Russom?"

The boy jolts a little, "Y-yes I am Ms. Xiao-Long. How did you know?"

She chuckles a little, ending in a weak cough, "Ya work with the original Synthetic Huntress in a war and you get to recognize the little ticks about your type."

His mouth drops, "You worked with Penny Prime?! What was she like? Was she funny? Was she-"

Yang holds up a hand to stop him,"We did, but that is a… later part of the story. As much as the three of us ramble and get off track, we do want to tell our tale." Ren shoots her a look, but the smile never leaves her face. "Please, be our translator if you will Mr. Unirob, and don't call me Ms."

He nods excitedly, "Of course Yang." The blue haired boy turns back to Ren. As he signs, the boy speaks. "Hello everyone, I am Lie Ren, formerly of Team JNPR. My wife has more of a tendency to ramble than most, so I, through this young Hunter, shall tell you the story of our first mission as best I can recall, with Nora's help as needed." Ren smiles at his wife and she giggles.

* * *

After the lunch, Jaune got a message on his phone, he told us that we were being summoned by Ozpin to get our milk run assignment. He suggested that he could go alone so we could keep eating and we trusted Jaune to pick us out a decent one, so we let him head on without us.

It was not even 30 seconds after he left the room that Nora pounced on poor Pyrrha. "Soooooo, are you two dating yet!?"

She sputtered on her food as she stared at Nora like a deer in headlights. "W-what?"

"Did you two finally confess your love for each other?

"N-no…" Her blush was fairly bright at that point. "I honestly don't think Jaune feels that way about me. Even if he does, he probably just feels like he does around any girl he hits on… or something."

I shook my head, "Pyrrha, you and I both know that's bullshit." I took a deep breath before continuing. "It's clear to me and just about anyone else that sees the two of you together that you're crazy about him and that he's certainly got an affection towards you. I'm fairly certain that if you asked him out the moment he stepped back in here, he'd sputter but eventually say yes, you both are just so afraid of that slim chance of rejection that neither of you are willing to break out of this holding pattern you two have had!" I take another deep breath and let my face settle back into a neutral mask. "But I suppose that's just my opinion right?"

Both Nora and Pyrrha sit in stunned silence, their eyes wide at my sudden, passionate outburst. Nora was the first to recover, her voice a little shaky but with a definite energy behind it. "W-wow Ren, that was really something… didn't know you felt that way…" Her smile returns, spreading wide across her face. She stands up quicly, launching her chair into a nearby student. "Ren. You and I need to have a talk!"

Before I could respond, she grabbed my wrists and actually tossed me over her shoulder, carting me off to-"

* * *

Nora breaks in, cutting off the blue haired speaker, with her own energetic voice. "I took him back to the room, told him how much I've always loved him and then we had sex right then and there! It was a magical first time, the kind they write stories about, he was so gentle and caring even while I mounted and rode him like a brrfff" Ren's hand covers up her mouth.

Yang is laughing hard in her chair, occasionally having to stop and cough, only to return to her laughing fit. The entire crowd is silent and a few of them look horrified, embarrassed, or both.

Ren looks down at his wife and gestures with his head for a moment before she nods and he pulls his hand back from her mouth and signs to the Synthetic Hunter, "Sorry everyone, like I said, my wife is rather energetic and runs without a filter on her thoughts." He looks at her with a slight frown on his face.

The boisterous Huntress shrinks in a little, a coy smile still on her face. "Sorry. It's just one of my favorite happy memories, ya know?"

Ren sighs, "Now then shall we continue onward?"

* * *

After what had happened after we left the cafeteria, Jaune and Pyrrha came to our shared room relatively shortly after. I and Nora were both in my bed, a common enough occurrence, as I read and she nuzzled against my side, napping.

Jaune's nose wrinkled as he stood in the doorway, "What's that smell?"

I looked up from my book. "Nothing to worry about Jaune, just open the window." I couldn't help but let a coy smile hint at my lips as I shifted my glance to Pyrrha, whose face couldn't have been brighter red without paint.

Jaune shrugged as he opened our window, letting a cool autumn breeze flow into our room. "So what's our assignment?"

He took a seat on his own bed, strapping on his armor and checking a gear bag. "Shouldn't be to bad, we're going to patrol a nearby village, been a few calls of weird stuff happening. Ozpin said we should be fine and back within 7 days."

I nod and sit up, cracking my neck as the chill air brushes against my bare chest and a hand pulls a cover farther over Nora's still bare body. "When do we leave?"

"In about 3 hours, I still have to meet with Ms. Goodwitch though and make sure our schedule is cleared for the mission." He sighs, "Man, being leader is cool and all, but those meetings are sooo boring."

His red headed companion sets a hand on his shoulder. "I know Jaune, but it means that we're all taken care of. If you want, I can take care of packing so you can get through the meeting sooner."

He nods, "Thanks Pyrrha, you're the best." A smile on his face as he clamps his sword and shield on, leaving the room for what was no doubt a rather boring discussion.

After getting Pyrrha calmed down and making sure that Nora had put her clothes back on, we had a quick wash before packing our gear. About an hour after our fearless leader had left, he returned, looking much more haggard for it. He faceplanted on his bed, muffling into his pillow, "It was like a hundred Port-lectures at once!"

Pyrrha sits on the edge, rubbing his back beneath the plates of his armor, "Hey… it's ok now Jaune, you're not there anymore."

He struggles up to a sitting position, leaning against her a little. "That was actually more harrowing than anything we've done before….combined."

"Don't you think you might be exaggerating just a little?"

"Maybe a little, but still!"

We all have a small laugh before he looks around the room at our assembled bags, ready to leave at a moment's notice. "Though, it's definitely worth it. I wouldn't trade you guys for the world." A bright smile crosses his face as he hugs the nearest person to him, dear Pyrrha, her face now matching her vibrant hair.

He pulls away, a serene smile across his face. "We head out in an hour and a half guys. Should be a simple mission, nothing we can't handle, right?"

* * *

Ren stops signing for a moment, to shake his head sadly before looking at the boy again, "He was right, it was a mission we could handle, just wish we hadn't had to. That was truly the last time we saw the innocent Jaune we had all come to know. I still miss him…"

Nora puts a hand on his shoulder , "We all do Ren. " Nora looks out to the crowd, "He was a good guy, a good leader, and because of him, we got to live with these injuries rather than die that day."

Yang, staring at the floor, a tear streak down her one good side, whispers, "Do not bring that up until it is time Nora… please…"

"Ok. Would you care to continue or shall I Ren?"

He nods to her and motions the blue haired boy back to his seat.

***A/N: A little bit of a lighter situation for this go round. This chapter is where I feel the story truly becomes mine, rather than rehashing the show or situations thereof. Their growth, their changes, their losses, their gains, each of their own crafting and I hope to portray them as well as I can. I thank each and every one of you that has stayed so far and chooses to stay with me for even more. May the night see you safe and the dawn greet you kindly readers.**

**P.S.: If anyone got the Synthetic's name reference, kudos to you.***

_**Editors notes: Ominous foreshadowing is ominous.**_


	4. We thought it easy

***A/N: I return from my unwanted hiatus bursting with new ideas and many chapters to bring. Unfortunate issues with my writing laptop are what led to this delay, leading me to have to write on my desktop and have to rewrite this chapter as well as the next chapter of Big Bowl. I truly hope it did not suffer too much for the rewrite. Again, thanks go to Maxaro for so generously looking over the chapters and providing input, even after this hiatus. Thanks also go to a friend of mine at ****spinelliprodo /tumblr/****com for the new cover photo, I got it commissioned.**

**Other than that, I'll keep it short... onward my readers.* **

Nora puts a grin back on her face, trying to bring the mood back up at least to a neutral. "Sorry about that kiddos, we've went through a lot and sometimes it all gets squished together emotionally."

A loud click from the back of the auditorium draws the attention of the three on the stage, a short, cloaked figure walking at an unhurried pace. The face and body of this new guest completely covered by a knee length, faded red cloak, only long black combat boots visible from below it.

The figure takes a leaning, cross armed position against the back wall as the three veterans visibly relax. Yang calls out to her first, "Nice of you to join us. Wondering when you'd show up." Her face is a soft mask of neutrality to match her tone.

The figure merely nods, wiggling to get a little more comfortable against the wall.

Nora breaks the growing tension, her voice unsure, "Shouldn't we introduce h-"

"No."

"No?"

"Not yet."

"Yang, I thought you were past this."

She sighs, running a hand through her once lustrous locks. "I am, just... it still stings a little to see it." She closes her eyes, taking a deep breath, "I'm fine. Continue on, I'm sure we've done nothing but confuse our audience."

"Right... umm... where was I?"

Ren throws her a few signs and she nods vigorously, leaning forward and gesturing already, "Oh yeah! So we were on the transport headed out…

* * *

The transport bumped and jolted with the four of us locked into padded seats, the roaring wind dulled by the large metal doors on either side of us.

Even though it was a simple assignment, we were all still a little nervous since it was our first solo job. Luckily for us, Jaune was certainly doing his best to help lighten the mood, doing an interesting take on Professor Port if he were an elephant Faunus. It was doing wonders for our nerves honestly, until the ship jerked and the sudden pressure of acceleration forced us back into our seats, the pilot's voice crackling over the intercom, "Sorry bout that JNPR. Just got an urgent SOS from your destination. Looks like they're under heavy Grimm assault. ETA 2 minutes, expect a hot drop, long term gear will be left in a secure location." The comm clicked off as the ship pushed even faster.

"Nothing ever goes as planned huh?" With a sigh, Jaune unlocked the shock padding in front of him, lifting it up and standing with a hand on a ceiling bar.

"Guess not."

"Well... we're good enough to handle this right? They would've said something about reinforcements if they thought it was too much for us."

"Yeah! We'll take this down easy."

The comm crackled again. "Hot drop in 1. Opening the doors."

The moment it clicked off, the hatch doors on either side of the ship opened with a loud hiss of pneumatics, letting the roaring wind in. Jaune's eyes swept over each of us. We were placing our faith in him and his in us, we wouldn't let him down and we knew he damn sure wasn't going to let us down.

"Alright team, let's get in there and take em down!" The setting sun behind him silhouetted him in the fiery red light, the air around him distorting as if heat radiated from him in the form of wings. The blush on poor Pyrrha's face couldn't have been greater.

"Ren, Pyrrha, you two handle inside the village. Nora…"

"Yeah?"

"Blonde Bomber."

"Hot drop is go! Good luck Team."

I practically jumped out of the seat, wrapping one arm around Jaune's thin waist while unfurling Maginhild with the other, shouting at the top of my lungs; "Blonde Bomber!" and taking that final, leaping step out of the aircraft into the open air, twirling slightly in the blood red sky.

"Paint me a target boss!"

Jaune looked down and saw the chaos unfurling beneath as the waves of Grimm broke against the villages defenses.

"3rd Ursa from the right. He looks relatively non-pointy!"

"YOU GOT IT!" I let go of Jaune, letting the free fall and a light push pull him away from me as I took a two handed grasp of Maginhild, pulling her back for a big swing. "BOMBS AWAY, HAHAHA!" Heaving a mighty blow to the blonde's skinny butt, I launched him well past terminal velocity, straight into the Ursa he wanted, crushing it with a loud thump.

With a quick glance up at the descending shapes of our other teammates and a smile across my face, I mounted my hammer, pulling that trigger once more, bursting forth into the unexpectedly large raging tide of Grimm beating against the villages wooden walls. My landing was softened by a charging Boarbatusk that was just about to hit our wobbly leader.

"Ha! Couldn't' have aimed that better if I tried!"

He shook his head clear as our sudden entrance had certainly drawn the attention of the Grimm horde. "You ready Nora? Looks like we have quite the crowd!"

I burst out laughing, twirling Maginhild about me as easily as a baton. "SMACK!"

"Good answer."

And thus our first raging battle began wading into that fracas, taking down as many as we could, always watching each others' backs as they seemed to always be more Grimm. I was having the time of my life and even Jaune seemed happy, being able to hold his own in a fight like this.

* * *

"It was quite a start to our first solo mission. We felt like we were on top of the world, tearing our way through hundreds of em, and there was this one reeeallly big one tha-"

A pat on the shoulder from Ren got her attention a bit, cutting off what was no doubt going to be quite a story. He only needed to arch a brow to get his point across, his wife rolling her eyes. "Oh fine. Be a grump about it and ruin my story." She crossed her arms like a petulant child, the smile on her face from storytelling still showing her true thoughts.

Ren looked out over the crowd, making eye contact with Russom once again and beckoning him forward onto the stage to translate more for the magenta eyed man.

"Alright, now then…

* * *

While Nora and Jaune were outside the villages walls, taking care of the majority of the attacking Grimm, Pyrrha and I had landed inside it, which, unfortunately, was going to be far less simple than just 'kill all the Grimm'.

It seemed we had landed in the town square, and the place was in a panic. Debris was strewn across the streets, carts and stalls were overturned and broken, the shrill screams of help and terror echoed across the village.

Pyrrha regained her footing faster than I did, already dashing down one of the narrow streets towards a source of screams, Milo and Akouo deployed in her hands.

"Pyrrha wait!" I wasn't quite as fast to recover as she was, and splitting up at that point would probably not have been our best idea. Lucky for me, she actually heard me over all the other commotion going on around us and stopped her dash.

Deploying StormFlower and trotting up to meet her, I saw her face twisted in a scowl of worry, anger, and anxiety.

"Come on Ren, let's go! We have to save them!"

A nod and we're both off, "Stick together though."

"We need to move fast."

"Alright, keep alert, just like duo training, sync?"

"Sync." As she finished her affirmation we rounded a corner and saw a Grimm we had not encountered before. It probably stood about 3 meters tall, jet black except for the occasional dabs of white and red common for Grimm, with a long neck and 4 arms on a thin torso atop 6 long spindly legs. More disturbing was the fact that it was… vomiting onto the face of a villager pinned by one of its legs.

Thankfully, Pyrrha immediately dropped to a knee and took its head off with one clean shot. She stayed like that, head on a swivel as I went to recover the villager.

"Sir, sir are you ok?!"

His eyes were wide and the viscous black substance coated most of his face as he tried to get out a reply. "I... it's in… h-h…" Suddenly his face went placid with a jerk and a deep, gasping breath, "Yes, I am fine. Please, help me up young man."

After helping him up, Pyrrha jogged over to meet us. "I've got at least 3 other disturbances that I can pinpoint throughout the town. We need to move Ren."

I couldn't help but agree. "Get to the shelters sir, our team will come there when all is clear."

"Of course young man. Thank you for your help." The small grin he sported while saying that was disconcerting, but I chalked it up to everyone handling sudden panic situations differently.

"Its our job as Hunters and Huntresses. Now go, stick to clear streets, take no chances."

"Of course young man, I'm sure I'll be fine now." Then he just ran off down the street we had come in on, never losing that oddly creepy smile.

"That was disturbing."

"I know."

"That look on his face..."

"Some people don't handle attacks well. Some are terrified and some go past it into a weird state like that. He should be fine... hopefully. For now, we need to focus on anyone else who might be still stuck outside."

"R-right. I'll lead."

* * *

"We tore through the rest of the village, rescuing 5 other villagers that hadn't made it to the shelter yet. We didn't encounter many Grimm, and those we did were all of the same type as that first one. Luckily we took care of them before they could get a hold of anyo-."

Ren stopped his signing as he was wracked by a loud coughing fit, a small glob of phlegm flying from his mouth as his body shook from the exertion.

"Sorry. Not a war wound this time at least, just comes from being old." A gravelly gargled noise, what may have been a laugh, rumbled from Ren's destroyed throat. "We took care of those Grimm before they could get a hold anyone else and after doing a full sweep of the city, we were finally able to join Nora and Jaune outside the wooden walls. The two of them looked exhausted and were definitely glad for our reinforcement, it didn't help that there were still what looked like several hundred of them teeming around, just outside of melee range. Our arrival helped make short work of them though."

Another spasm shook him as his body tried to force out something that may not be there. Ren slumped into the squishy confines of his chair, catching his breath as best he could.

"Nora. Please, continue on from the shelters."

"Ok. Russom, you're free to stay here on stage with us, as long as you don't mind standing, for when Ren wants to tell again." The blue haired synthetic eagerly nodded his head, scooting off a little to the side, out of the spotlight as Nora turned back to the audience. "After handling the attack, Jaune and I were pretty tired. I know that to normal people we look, and even are, superhuman, but always remember that you do have limits, and breaking those limits can have very dire consequences." Letting those words hang in the air for a few moments, she returned to telling their tale.

* * *

We headed to the Grimm shelter, this village was only big enough to have one, to give them the all clear. When they opened up the big reinforced door, many of them looked absolutely terrified. They were all huddled together in several different sized groups.

Jaune, still trying to be a good leader, stood straight and threw a big thumbs up, a weary smile on his face. "All clear! They're all gone and you're free to go back homes now."

The relief practically washed over them like a wave and many of them immediately got up from the hard floor of the shelter and left, whether to check on shops, homes, or even to just get some rest after such a scary day.

I noticed a small group was still off to the side, talking amongst themselves and looking rather interested in us, when we were approached by a tall, brick wall of a man. He extended his hand forward to Jaune and spoke in a rather thick accent, "Thank yeh very much Team JNPR. 'M Mayor Durlan of this here town. We'd bin dealing with them lurkin around the edges for quite some time. 'S actually why we sent out that request t' ya. 'Din expect 'em to attack like that though, guess we were lucky yeh were already headed t' us."

Jaune took the offered hand, his own dwarfed in comparison, shaking once. "Jaune Arc, and not a problem Mayor. It's our job to protect and serve the people."

"Glad t' hear that. I'd like t' ask ya'll a favor though, if you'd be so kind."

"What?"

"Well... this isn't mah first Grimm attack, and I'm sure they probably made one helluva mess out there. I was hoping ya'll might be 'willin to help a little with cleanup and 'rebuildin, since ya'll 'ave already dealt with the original reason we called ya fer?"

"I don't think we'd have any issues with that, but lemme make sure." He turned to us, leaned against the wall, relaxing after all the exertion. "What do you guys think? Up for spending the next 6 days helping out in town rather than running around in the woods?"

"Sure."

"Yeah!"

"Sounds lovely."

He turned back to the mayor. "Guess that means we're in. Though, it needs to wait 'til tomorrow so we can all rest up and get some food and what not."

"Of course, of course! We'll get ya set up right proper, and hell if it comes t' it, I'm sure any one of the others 'll letcha stay with 'em."

At that point, the small group that had not yet left chose that time to approach, the man Ren and Pyrrha had rescued before at the forefront, his slightly off grin mirrored by his 4 companions. "I'd be happy to set them up at my inn. Free of charge for our heroes, obviously."

"See, all taken care of! Have a good night JNPR and'll see ya in the morning!" With a smile and a walloping pat on Jaune's back, he walked out of the shelter.

The innkeeper offered his own hand forward, "I am Zade Polt."

"Jaune Arc." He shakes, Zade's arm a little limp in Jaune's grasp.

"You four must be hungry after all this. Come, I will make dinner for you all and you can meet my family." He motioned forward, moving out of the shelter which clicks shut as the last person leaves, the light hiss of a locking mechanism the only sound from the now sealed shelter.

"Thanks very much Mr. Polt."

"Please, call me Zade."

"Thank you very much Mr. Zade."

A quick walk through the lit streets took us to a modest two story building with a large wooden sign hanging from it with the words: 'The Milky Maid' and a picture of a woman with horns, a mug of presumably milk, and a wide smile on her face above it.

Jaune muttered back to us, "Ruby would probably love this place if that sign's any indication." Eliciting a few chuckles from us.

Zade pulls out a single long key, unlocking the door and stepping to the side, motioning us in. "Please, make yourselves at home while I make something to eat. The rooms are upstairs if you would prefer a rest."

The interior was warm and cozy, befitting a small town inn such as this. A few wooden tables and chair sets dotted the floor, a fireplace sitting idle near a squat stage, likely used for live entertainment.

"Quite a homey place you have here. Very inviting I must say." Pyrrha seemed the most enraptured by the small town charm of the place.

"Thank you Ms…?"

"Pyrrha, Pyrrha Nikos. Charmed." She said as she offered a hand forward, the innkeeper taking it as a wider smile crossed his face.

"The renowned student combat champion? My my, seems we are quite lucky in who our saviors were."

The mild blush that crossed her face was the only indication that she was at least a little thrown off after being off her pedestal for such a long time, "N-no, any other Hunter or Huntress would and can do just as good a job as I."

"And modest too, you must have to fight the boys off with a stick eh?" His grin growing a little more as his eyes drifted down her combat attire.

Her face grew a few shades darker. "I-I'm feeling a bit tired, I think I'll go lay down for a while. Let me know when the meal is ready and thank you very much for your hospitality." A light bow was all that followed before the flustered combat maiden fled up the wooden stairs, barely creaking beneath her rushed steps.

The innkeeper chuckled, muttering something about 'most delicious' as he turned on his heel and made his way to the kitchen, flanked by the same group from before, now clearly his family.

His words were a little disconcerting but seemed like nothing more than idle perversion, though Nora had a different thought.

"Welp, he's evil..." Jaune jumped at the sudden break in the silence.

"What?"

"Yep, totally evil. You saved an evil guy Ren."

"No way. He seemed fine, a bit leery eyed on Pyrrha, but there's not much we can do about that."

"He's totally evil, I can feel it. Just you wait."

Ren's tiny smirk gave away his own feelings on the matter too.

She crossed her arms and harumphed, "You'll see, then we'll have to take him down in a climactic battle, like Ruby and them did with that Cinder woman, and we'll gain a recurring enemy who we have pitched fights with but who always gets away to strike again!"She stuck her tongue out at us, "You'll definitely see."

* * *

"I hate that I was both right and wrong at the same time." The aged bomber sighed. "But I was young and full of idealized versions of combat and the world."

"So did we all. Its a natural part of growing up as a Hunter or Huntress."

Nora gazed across the crowd, "Most of you probably have similar ideas of what this job will be like. I won't lie and sound crotchety by saying that it isn't glamorous or a bad lifestyle. Our generation of them just got the short end of the shit stick, however, it is still important to temper that enthusiasm a little sometimes. It's dangerous out there and should you all have to do the same thing we did, it will be hell..." Her words fell to a half whisper by the end and both Ren and Yang could only nod silently as Nora gave her sagely advice.

Russom, not translating for Ren, broke the silence. "Do you really mean that Mrs. Nora? Even after all you've told us, it's still difficult to understand how you seem so down on your own profession that much. I can't speak for any of the organic ones here, but we Synthetics are raised, trained and truly instilled with the ideal that we are meant to do great things in defense of our homes, our nations, and our people. That the danger is there but we are always strong enough to overcome it!"

A derisive snort came from the cloaked figure still in the back, Yang's eyes narrowing at it, "Your opinion on the matter has been noted."

Nora smiled at the blue haired botboy, "And that is an admirable view to be given and to believe. Hold onto that and hope that it never goes away. I hope that none of you have to make sacrifices like we did and are able to go out and take down hordes of Grimm, never taking a major injury. We just weren't so lucky... because 'The Mother' chose that time to make her move..."

Yang cleared her throat with a wet cough. "In due time Nora. Getting ahead of ourselves only undermines our tale."

"Right, sorry..."

Ren snapped and waved to get the synthetic Hunter's attention again, signing at him rapidly once again. "Despite how... creepy our host had managed to be on our first night there, dinner was a pleasant ordeal and we all went to bed relatively early without incident, though both Jaune and Pyrrha were quite flustered when Nora and I insisted they share the other bed in the room rather than splitting by gender. As much as I hated to admit it back then, it was a lot of fun to mess with them." Another rough, gravelly sound passed his pale lips.

"Pyrrha and I were the first up the next day, waiting on our lazier partners while breakfast was made. Then we went out into the village to help with rebuilding after the attack. It was laborious and straining, but all our training and our Aura still let us do things alone that would've taken a few others. The second day of our week long excursion went by without incident, except that Mr. Zade had brought a few groups of people in shortly before we went to sleep and didn't leave until after we woke up." A minor cough stopped him through his signs. "It wasn't until the third day that things started turning sour..."

* * *

Mayor Durlan approached us on that day, the sun was high in the sky and all of the villagers who were still involved in repairs were all doing their own jobs. We were closer to the edge of town, where more damage had been done. The repairs themselves were going smoothly, both for us and in general around town, seems that they'd planned for this at least somewhat.

"G'mornin' Team JNPR."

Jaune was up a ladder with Pyrrha, nailing in part of a roof so I was the one to answer him, "Good day to you Mayor Durlan. Is there something we can help you with."

"Ah, hope so. Y'see, ah bin noticin' more than a few people actin' awful funny in the last day 'r so. Now, normally, I'd jus' say it's nerves from the recent attack, but its an awful lot of 'em all actin' funny in the same kinda way. Was kinda hopin ya'll could look into it."

Jaune and Pyrrha slid down the ladder, allowing me to finally let go and fully turn to look at the mayor. "What's so off about them, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Well, fer one the Donahue boys are hangin' around the Tidwell siblings."

"I don't understand."

"Those two families have 'ad the biggest feud goin' fer years, absolutely hated each other. Now, they're actin like they're kin."

Pyrrha dusted her hands on a rag shoved into the pocket of her set of borrowed work clothes, "That sounds good, putting aside old conflict is certainly something that should be encouraged."

"But that's jus one of the things 'sats goin' on. They all got this unusual calm grin about 'em, like they know somethin we don't and are way too pleased about it."

The four of us share a look, our skepticism clear. Jaune turned back to the mayor, "Anything else?"

"Pretty sure that Zade's the ring leader in it all, takin' em to his inn late at night 'n then they come out all weird like."

That last bit struck a note with us and Nora's face cracked with a grin. "I told you!"

"Now Nora, that doesn't prove anything."

"But it certainly fuels my suspicion!"

"They could just be talking about the attack, helping each other get over it."

"Or they could be doing evil things, like rituals or plotting!"

Our fearless leader watched our exchange with a slight smirk on his face but mild concern in his eyes. "Alright Mayor Durlan, we'll try to keep an eye on everyone, see if anything comes up."

"Thank ya very much Team." With his warning and request given, he turned on his heel and walked off farther into the village, towards the square.

After our guest left, Nora turned to the rest of us, folding her arms over her chest, making her already ample bosom all the more noticeable and causing Pyrrha to glance at her own furtively and even a little jealously.

"I tooooold you. Evil."

"Evil may be a bit much, but it does sound like Mayor Durlan is genuinely worried about his people. I think we should ask around and see if we can get a feel for them, a start at least." Pyrrha said, the concern clear on her face.

"But what if they are evil? Then they'll be on to us!"

"Then let's try to be discrete with it. Even if they aren't, we don't want to start a panic."

"Fine," She huffed, letting her arms fall from her chest, and allowing their collective eyes to lift.

"Alright, we can start tomorrow, but for now, we still have some repairs to finish. So let's hop back to work." Jaune called with a clap and we merrily went back to the relatively easy labor, chatting back and forth for the rest of day 3.

***A/N: Investigation starts next chapter, which shouldn't take that long given that I already have a vast portion written. My original intention was to combine what will now be ch.4 and 5, but I felt it undermined the feelings that occur both in this chapter and in that chapter. I hope that this is at least a little worth the long wait and cannot wait to tug at your hearts again soon. I may write the combat scene with Jaune and Nora as a 'Moment Frozen in Time'. May the night see you safe and the dawn greet you kindly.***


End file.
